A. Taken from the French “entre prendre,” means “to undertake.”
B. An entrepreneur is an innovator or developer who recognizes and seizes opportunities; converts those opportunities into workable/marketable ideas; adds value through time, effort, money, or skills; assumes the risks of the competitive marketplace to implement these ideas; and realizes the rewards from these efforts.
C. Characteristics
l. Personal initiative
2. The ability to consolidate resources
3. Management skills
4. A tendency toward autonomy and risk taking
5. Competitive
6. Goal-oriented behavior
7. Aggressiveness
8. Ability to employ human relations skills
D. Historical developments
1. No single definition of entrepreneur exists.
2. Recognition of entrepreneurs dates back to eighteenth-century France.
3. Until 1950, the majority of definitions and references came from economists.
4. Robert C. Ronstadt said, “Entrepreneurship is the dynamic process of creating incremental wealth.”
5. In present day, the word entrepreneur has become closely linked with free enterprise and capitalism.
6. Entrepreneurs serve as agents for change, provide creative, innovative ideas for business enterprise, and help businesses grow and become profitable.
7. Entrepreneurs are considered heroes of free enterprise.
8. Many people regard entrepreneurship as “pioneership” on the frontier of business.
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